I’m not really a poetry kind of guy. I’ve just never found the right kind of appreciation for the genre, as a rule. That said, the lines at the beginning of today’s comic are an excerpt from Brandy Schwan’s “Catacombs and Photographs” (from the chapbook of the same name). I fell in love with Brandy’s poetry the first time I read it, and I’ve been a fan ever since. It’s dark, lyrical, and has a kind of music to it that speaks to me. If you haven’t read any of her work, then I highly recommend you go buy her two collections and get familiar with her.
Change gears now.
The Reclaimer: Sandbox contest closes tonight at 11PM EDT. At the time of this posting, that gives you just about 14 hours to put the finishing touches on your map for a chance to win The Cole Protocol, the Halo Trilogy music anthology, and a free one-year Gold subscription to Xbox Live. Get those entries in to me – before time runs out!
been waiting all day for this one
so who is that talking at the start???
points to the transcript – and the font
ok so its ferial… so square boxes are for when the character is talking but not in the frame?
Ferial calling Portent self-righteous? He must not have heard the expression "pot calling the kettle black"
Did you notice the mouse-over text for the comic?
There's a certain level of irony inherent in this situation
nice jim… just nice >:) i is loving he vibe of evlivilnesness! (lolwtfbbqrofldogmuffinmancakechickenducksandwhich) (WTF?)
Ok, really – don't do that again. Aight?
Ok, really – don't do that again. A'ight?
so ferial has beat RC to portent, does this mean we might be getting a ferial RC reunion sometime soon?
Don't hold your breath waiting on it.
awwwww,:( so the cavalcade are going to be a while explaining ferial to RC then.
Specifically boxes where the text is contained in quotes (as opposed to boxes where the text has no quotes to indicate a regular voiceover).
Is that a Superluminality reference I spy? Or has Ferial destroyed multiple galaxies in his time?
It's an obscure reference to a major plot point.
Couldn't resist alluding to that plot point you were talking about, then?
I like to hint at major plot points rather frequently, you might have noticed.
i'm totally wrong, but could the galaxy he destroyed have contained forerunners and maybe precursors… oh well, i'll stick to my little theories
Why do you have negative comment points?
It was a contest on another site that made the mistake of using IntenseDebate for a rating system for the contest.
i will not give up! I will have positive points!
I'm the first to comment? That's…odd. But, at least I can be the first to say GREAT COMIC!
Not really. I only posted the comic about 20 minutes ago. You're just the first to get here.
Ahhh, well, that makes perfect sense
Mmmm, allusions of Destruction. Nice. The Galaxy destruction gonna be referenced again at some point? Like… a full explanation maybe?
Oh, yes – it's key to Ferial's current actions.
Give Ferial a cookie; he beat Reclaimer to Portent.
Well, i wonder what galaxies Ferial destroyed in the past? Hopefully not the chocolate galaxy…mmmm, galaxy…drools
Yes indeed….what could Ferial possibly do for Portent…? ponders this for a moment
Maybe he will give him a ton of beef jerky?
here-here…rhubarb-rhu
i uh….i agree?
"OMGWTFBBQ?!"
Anyone watched Arby n the Chief? Orange Blob, I got reminded of first episode when you said wtfbbq in your 'noisy' comment.
lol
Naw, not really my kind of humor.
;'( k
I love it when people comment, but I'd much rather keep the general 'noise' down to a minimum.
This comic mentions something that was not ever seen or used in the Halo universe and has always bugged me, there is more than one galaxy in the universe. The Halo universe only ever has anything happen in one galaxy. Seeing that at least hinted at in this comic makes me so happy.
But aside from that, great comic as always.
The distances just to cross our own galaxy are HUGE, so forget about travel between galaxies. You're more likely to experience the heat death of the universe than to be able to travel between galaxies, especially given how they're all accelerating away from each other.
well, not ALL of them are accelerating AWAY from each other…Milky Way and Andromeda are going TOWARDS each other…and will one day eat each other….
Well, granted, but as a rule, the expansion of the universe is speeding up, rather than slowing down, so travel between most galaxies is all but impossible.
touche
The only way you could get to another galaxy (even in the RCverse) would be to somehow generate enough power to Todash jump to a Gate in the next galaxy, which would require you to travel to the Gate and find its coordinates and identifying number, anyway.
Wait, I forgot, how many calavada has the Reclaimer found already and how many remain? I know theres this one but is he the last, and are we ever going to go over how he found the first one again? I remember he was fighting viper, then suddenly he was in a dark room with a bit yellow talking thing. That didn't make much sense, or have I forgotten too much already? I think I'll go back and reread.
Oh, and nice comic. The blury plot is begining to get more fuzzy, just like when you resave jpegs over and over again.
I don't hate it, I'm just confused.
The galaxies are to far away for a slip space jump is how the fiction states it. The ship is bound to have failures in slip space after a couple billion years of traveling to the new galaxy.
Oh, and I'm back again.
Why does Ferial say that that calavada's name is Chaos, and then call him 'Portent'?
The Reclaimer has reclaimed 4 of the seven (Resplendent Legacy, Reticent Mystery, Sempiternal Chaos and Fortuitous Destiny), and three remain (Intuitive Portent, Indigenous Adjuvant and Benignant Charity).
That is the question isn't it?
He's quoting poetry.
Oh, thanks
Did you read the blurb I wrote to go with the comic? (For that matter, does anyone?)
The one that appears when you mouse over it?
Then yes.
No, the one that's written underneath explaining where the line of poetry come from.
Welcome back!
i read some of the poetry you pointed us towards, and i usually really dislike poetry, but hers is good.
awesome comic btw
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but Brandy's writing has won me over. It's dark and hypnotic.
yay dark and hypnotic
i wonder if Ferial beat him or timed his arrival properly, waiting for RC to do the dirty work of getting this Cavalcade back to where they are now. i mean, Ferial did have a long time to do his research on where everyone was, so all he'd have to do is pay alittle attention and he'd be able to be where RC was previously when the event occurred.
mostly i was kinda reminded of what Ferial did to the Cavalcade on Isolation. being sneaky and all.
oh, and have you ever thought of using the Camera effect spheres as a Matrix? (that's what you call where the AIs are stored in, right?) it would give it a different look visually, maybe for a different type of matrix. and i think they are about the same size (or they could be made to look the same size).
That would work only in Forge. Unfortunately, I can't use the appropriate armor colors for my characters in Forge, much as I'd like to.
Jim, Your creativity seems boundless. How DO you do it?
Believe me, you don't see how close I get to banging into the creative wall every day.
Believe me, us commenters aren't even close
The whole point of creativity is going beyond the creative wall. Slamming into it is not an option unless you intend to break it down with your face.
Ummm… actually Ferial is incorrect in asserting that Portent is self-righteous. I can see this being a typical retort for a villain to spout but I honestly think Ferial is more intelligent than that. Surely he realises that he, himself is self-righteous? Far more so than Portent in any case.
I like the direction of the series and I can understand that working it alone is tough but maybe you should find an editor or something? I dunno, I don't want to be condescending, your work is amazing but maybe make it easier on yourself.
Love,
Cam.
Does Ferial see the irony inherent in his statement? Maybe. Yes, it's true that he's quite possibly the single most intelligent being in the universe, but that doesn't necessarily make him immune to falling prey to character flaws. Ferial is extremely egotistical, and he's a sociopath. He thinks nothing of destroying millions of people (human or otherwise) on his quest to accomplish his goals. In his mind, the destruction of life is a small price to pay on his way to 'saving' the universe. So, if he sees himself as self-righteous, then he justifies it by having convinced himself it's necessary as he's the only one who can do is required. He views Portent as being self-righteous because Portent stands directly opposed to him wielding its own authority and sense of morality as justification for its opposition to Ferial. If Ferial recognizes his own self-righteousness, then he wouldn't call it that. He'd call something like a "holy mandate" or some other trope in order to dress it up in a more positive light.
while i see that it's nessacerry, and valuable; never write that much at once, it's burning my eyes! x(
I see what you mean. I'll have to think about it but I suppose it makes more sense now. :B
Hehe, I have whole character sheets for the major players.
Low comment count for this comic…
It happens. Monday's was rather lively, though.
I think the creative wall is actually the side of a writer's block. That's usually where I break out my climbing gear.
Wrong! That's when you break out the helicopter and a massive bungee cord…
I don't remember where I was trying to go with this.
i just thought Ferial was checking, they all look the same!
Well, I'm sorry your short attention span can't handle a few extra words. :p
Well if you do could you please type them into wiki seeing as nobody else has them.B)
There's already a start on some of those character sheets in the wiki. I won't add everything in just yet but some of that information is spoilerish – and anyone can add to the wiki (*hint hint*).
Oh, whoops! Usually I do, but didn't for this one.
Hehe, probably doesn't help that I don't always write something for each comic.
Are you saying I should do it ? But I don't have your extensive data base.
The wiki exists as much for the readers to contribute to as for me. The idea is to take what facts are known from the existing comics and comments and start sorting them into articles on the wiki.